Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun, New Delhi, India

10m Air Pistol Men
Gold - Tomoyuki Matsuda (JPN) 240.1 (WR)
Silver - Xuan Vinh Hoang (VIE) 236.6
Bronze - Jitu Rai (IND) 216.7

On the fifth day, Jitu Rai won the Bronze in 10m Air Pistol ... He became 6th shooter to get eliminated with 216.7 pts ... Japanese shooter won the Gold after bettering world record with a score of 240.1 ... In Delhi, shooting condition looks favorable as lots of new world records have been created.

In 50m Rifle Prone Men final, Chain Singh finished on 7th position with 141.9 pts, before that he qualified for the final on 7th position with 618.8 pts.

Tennis News

At $2.4M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2017, UAE

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) bt (2) Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP) 57 63 11-9

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) vs Florin Mergea (ROU)/ Viktor Troicki (SRB)

Rohan-Marcin scored superb comeback win over 2nd seed Dodig-Granollers ... After losing the first set they made strong comeback for winning the second and then they won the match tie-break in extra points ... In the quarters they r facing Rohan's ex-partner Florin Mergea and Viktor Troicki.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2017, Clare, Australia

[R1] Abbie MYERS (AUS)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt (2) Alize LIM (FRA)/ Sherazad REIX (FRA) 36 63 10-6

[QF] Abbie MYERS (AUS)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) vs Beatriz HADDAD MAIA (BRA)/ Genevieve LORBERGS (AUS)

Prarthana with her Australian partner Abbie Myers started with upset win over 2nd seed French pair ... After losing the first set they made excellent comeback for winning the second set and the match tie-break comfortably.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun, New Delhi, India

Double Trap Men
Gold - James Willett (AUS) 75 (WR)
Silver - Ankur Mittal (IND) 74
Bronze - James Dedman 56 (WRJ)

On the fourth day, Ankur Mittal won the Silver medal in Double Trap ... He lost in closely fought final by 1 point when Australian James Willett created world record with 75 targets ... Our other finalist Sangram Dahiya eliminated first with 24 targets ... In the qualifying, Sangram Dahiya qualified on 3rd position with 138 targets and Ankur Mittal qualified in 4th place with 137 targets.

In 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women final, Tejaswini Sawant finished on 7th position after qualifying for the final on 8th position with 582 pts.

Also Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu win the Gold medal in the first ever Mixed 10m Air Pistol event at the Shooting World Cup in New Delhi ... This was a new event introduced for the first time by ISSF.

Tennis News

At $2.4M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2017, UAE

[Q2] (WC) Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND)/ Andreas Seppi (ITA) l (2) James Cerretani (USA)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT) 57 36

[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Guillerme Garcia-Lopez (ESP) vs (Q) James Cerretani (USA)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT)

Jeevan and Seppi lost in the final qualifying round against Oswald and Cerretani ... They will face Lee and Garcia-Lopez in the first round.

Golf News

At $6.4M The Honda Classic 2017, Florida, USA (PGA Tour)

T11 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 65 68 71 71 -5 $147,200.00

Anirban finished outside top-10 at the Honda classic after another 1 over final round ... He was in top-5 standing after first 2 rounds but 1 over third round pushed him down to on tied 8th position ... Still good performance from Anirban and hopefully we will see more fireworks from him in coming tournaments.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun, New Delhi, India

On the third day, in 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men final, Sanjeev Rajput finished on 5th position after qualifying for the final on 8th position with 1159 pts ... In 10m Air Pistol Women final, Harven Saro finished on 7th position after qualifying for the final on 8th position with 379 pts ... So our shooters r reaching in the final but it seems to fail under the pressure of the medal.

Chess News

At FIDE Women's World Chess Championship 2017, Tehran, Iran

[SF] (4) Harika Dronavalli (IND) l (9) Tan Zhongyi (CHN) 4-5

In the last nerve wrecking decisive Armageddon game, Harika failed to win playing with White pieces and game ended after the 99th move ...In Armageddon game, White has to win this game or lose the match and Black only need to draw ... Before that in the tie-break games, the player with White pieces won their matches ... Both blitz games ended in a draw ... In this match, Harika had chances which she failed to take ... So third Bronze medal at World Championship for Harika.

Tennis News

At $599K Delray Beach Open 2017, Florida, USA

[SF] Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (3) Treat Huey (PHI)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) 26 16

One-sided and disappointing loss for Lee with Lu against Mirnyi and Huey ... Next, Lee is playing in Dubai open.

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At $2.4M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2017, UAE

[Q1] (WC) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,335) l (6) Marius Copil (ROU,126) 26 26

Doubles
[Q1] (WC) Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND)/ Andreas Seppi (ITA) bt (1) Wesely Koolhof (NED)/ Matwe Middlekoop (NED) 61 46 12-10

[Q2] (WC) Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND)/ Andreas Seppi (ITA) vs (2) James Cerretani (USA)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT)

[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Guillerme Garcia-Lopez (ESP) vs Qualifier
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) vs (2) Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP)

Prajnesh received qualifying wild-card but failed to challenge his top-125 Romanian opponent. Jeevan has also received the doubles wild-card with Italian Andreas Seppi ... And they started with an upset win over top-seed Dutch pair in the match tie-break ... Next, they r facing 2nd seed Cerretani and Oswald ... The winner of this match will face Lee and his partner Garcia-Lopez in the first round ... Rohan and his partner Matkowski r facing 2nd seed Dodig and Granollers.

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At $1.6M Abierto Mexicano Telcel 2017, Acapulco, Mexico

[Q1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Radu Albot (ROU)/ Mischa Zverev (GER) 16 46

Once again Mischa Zverev with his partner proved too strong for Divij and Purav.

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At $15K India F2 Futures, Jorhat

[R1] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Aryan GOVEAS (IND) 63 75
[R2] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Dalwinder SINGH (IND) 63 67(3) 63
[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Mateusz TERCZYNSKI (POL) 60 75
[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (4) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 63 64

[F] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 62 76(1)

Bala lifted his 8th futures title beating Vishnu Vardhan in the final ... Bala won double crown as he also won the doubles title with Vishnu.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun, New Delhi, India

On the second day, in men's Trap, Zoravar Singh Sandhu came agonizingly close to clinching his first World Cup medal in a decade but missed a shot at a crucial juncture to settle for the fourth position ... Neeraj Kumar too failed to finish on the podium despite qualifying for the final in the 25m rapid fire event ... In the final, a series of low-scoring shots saw him crash out first in the six-player final.

Chess News

At FIDE Women's World Chess Championship 2017, Tehran, Iran

[SF] (4) Harika Dronavalli (IND) 1-1 (9) Tan Zhongyi (CHN)

Harika lost in the first game playing with the black pieces against Tan Zhongyi ... But she raised to the challenge and won the marathon second game after 162 moves for forcing the tie-break.

Tennis News

At $2.66M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2017, UAE

[SF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) l (2) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) 46 36

Sania and Strycova faced another loss in the semi-final ... Russian pair defeated them comfortably.

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At $599K Delray Beach Open 2017, Florida, USA

[QF] Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (1) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA) 76(4) 26, 10-7

[SF] Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (3) Treat Huey (PHI)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR)

Lee in the company of Lu scored an impressive win over the legendary pairing of Bryan twins in the match tie-break ... Bryan twins were runner-up in Australian open and other hand seeing Lee's struggle with different partners, this result wasn't expected ... Next they r facing Huey and Mirnyi.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun, New Delhi, India

Courtesy OGQ facebook page

10m Air Rifle Women
Gold - Mengyao Shi (CHN) 252.1 pts (WR) (WRJ)
Silver - Lijie Dong (CHN) 248.9 pts
Bronze - Pooja Ghatkar (IND) 228.8 pts

The first World cup of 2017 is started in New Delhi ... On the first day, we have managed to win our first medal ... Young Pooja Ghatkar won her first World cup medal when she won Bronze in 10m Air Rifle Women ... Chinese young girl Mengyao Shi created new World record with 252.1 pts ... Pooja qualified for the final scoring 418 pts which helped her to finish second.

In 10m Air Rifle Men final, Deepak Kumar finished in 5th position and Ravi Kumar finished in 8th position.

Tennis News

At $2.66M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2017, UAE

[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt (7) Abigail Spears (USA)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 62 75

[SF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs (2) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS)

Sania and Strycova took revenge of their last week's loss with straight sets win over Spears and Srebotnik ... In the semis, they r facing 2nd seed Russian pair.

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At $599K Delray Beach Open 2017, Florida, USA

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (2) Raven Klaasen (RSA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) 57 57

Divij and Purav lost in two tight sets against 2nd seed Rajeev and Raven.

Chess News

At FIDE Women's World Chess Championship 2017, Tehran, Iran

[R1] (40) Padmini Rout (IND) 1½-½ (25) Danielian Elina (ARM)
[R1] (4) Harika Dronavalli(IND) 1-1 (61) Shamima Akter Liza (BAN)
[TB] (4) Harika Dronavalli(IND) 1½-½ (61) Shamima Akter Liza (BAN)

[R2] (40) Padmini Rout (IND) 1-1 (8) Zhao Xue (CHN)
[R2] (4) Harika Dronavali (IND) 1-1 (29) Dinara Saduakassova (KAZ)
[TB] (40) Padmini Rout (IND) 2-0 (8) Zhao Xue (CHN)
[TB] (4) Harika Dronavali (IND) 1½-½ (29) Dinara Saduakassova (KAZ)

[R3] (4) Harika Dronavalli (IND) 1-1 (45) Guramishvili Sopiko (GEO)
[R3] (40) Padmini Rout (IND) 1-1 (9) Tan Zhongyi (CHN)
[TB] (4) Harika Dronavalli (IND) 2½-1½ (45) Guramishvili Sopiko (GEO)
[TB] (40) Padmini Rout (IND) 1½-2½ (9) Tan Zhongyi (CHN)

[QF] (4) Harika Dronavalli (IND) 1-1 (5) Nana Dzagnidze (GEO)
[TB] (4) Harika Dronavalli (IND) 1½-½ (5) Nana Dzagnidze (GEO)

[SF] (4) Harika Dronavalli (IND) vs (9) Tan Zhongyi (CHN)

Harika played four rounds and played four tie-breakers ... But still, she is in the third consecutive semi-final at Women's World Chess Championship ... In the semi-final, she is facing Chinese girl Tan Zhongyi, who scored an upset win over #1 seeded Chinese girl Ju Wenjun in the quarters. Padmini Rout also reached till third round in her first appearance ... She lost in the tie-break against Harika's opponent Tan Zhongyi.

Tennis News

At $2.66M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2017, UAE

[R2] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Kiki Bertens (NED)/ Johanna Larsson (SWE) 63 75

[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs (7) Abigail Spears (USA)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

Sania and Strycova r into the quarters after straight sets win ... Next, they r facing 7th seed Spears and Srebotnik ... Last week our pair lost against the same pair at Doha.

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Tennis News

At $599K Delray Beach Open 2017, Florida, USA

[R1] Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (WC) Bjorn Fratangelo (USA)/ Taylor Fritz (USA) 76(7) 63

Winning start for Lee with his new partner Yen-Hsun Lu ... After winning the tight first set tie-break they won the second set easily.

Tennis News

At €691K Open 13 Marseille 2017, France

[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l (WC) Nick Kyrgios (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS) 46 46

The first round straight sets loss for Rohan and Jeevan against Aussie pair ... In both sets Aussie pair broke Jeevan in 7th game.

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At $599K Delray Beach Open 2017, Florida, USA

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (WC) Philip Bester (CAN)/ Peter Polansky (CAN) 64 36 10-4

Divij-Purav scored a win in the match tie-break against Canadian wild-card pair.

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At $50K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[Q3] (5) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,319) l (1) Lloyd Harris (RSA,294) 36 67(7)

Big serving Harris proved too strong for Prajnesh in crucial stages of the match.

Golf News

At $1.5M ISPS HANDA Women's Australian Open 2017, Adelaide, Australia (LPGA Tour)

T52 Aditi Ashok (IND) 74 70 78 73 +3 $4,141.00

Aditi struggled on her first LPGA tour event as she only managed only one under par round ... She finished outside top-50 but this must be good learning experience for her.

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At $7M Genesis Open 2017, California, USA (PGA Tour)

T64 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 70 67 76 73 +2 $14,840.00

After two rounds Anirban was five under and was in top 10 standing ... But after rain delayed Anirban struggled on the wet course and he managed 5 over and 2 over in last two rounds for finishing below in the standing.

Tennis News

At €691K Open 13 Marseille 2017, France

[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (WC) Nick Kyrgios (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS)

This week Rohan is playing with Jeevan ... Good result here can push their case for the Davis cup doubles pair spot.

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At $599K Delray Beach Open 2017, Florida, USA

[R1] Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (WC) Bjorn Fratangelo (USA)/ Taylor Fritz (USA)
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (WC) Philip Bester (CAN)/ Peter Polansky (CAN)

This week Lee is playing with Yen-Hsun Lu and facing American wild-card pair ... Divij-Purav r also facing Canadian wild-card pair.

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At $50K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[Q2] (5) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,319) bt Yusuke Watanuki (JPN,778) 62 64

[Q3] (5) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,319) vs (1) Lloyd Harris (RSA,294)

Another comfortable straight sets win for Prajnesh on indorr court ... Next he is having tough match against top-300 South African Lloyd Harris.

Squash News

At $50K Women's Cleveland Classic 2017, Ohio, USA

[R1] (4) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) bt (Q) Hollie Naughton (CAN,38) 11-9, 11-4, 11-5 (26m)

[QF] (4) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) l (5) Emily Whitlock (ENG,15) 8-11, 5-11, 5-11

Little disappointed by Joshna's one-sided loss against similar ranked British girl at Cleveland Classic

Table Tennis News

At the 2017 ITTF World Tour India Open, New Delhi, India

[R1] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,62) bt Can Akkuzu (FRA,129) 4-1 (11-5, 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-8)
[R2] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,62) bt Yuto Muramatsu (JPN,24) 4-1 (11-8, 11-7, 11-4, 14-16, 11-5)
[QF] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,62) bt Paul Drinkhall (ENG,42) 4-3 (11-4, 10-12, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 13-11)

[SF] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,62) l Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN,69) 2-4 (7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 13-11, 9-11, 8-11)

Sharath Kamal Achanta lost in the semis of India open against very talented 13 yrs old Japanese boy Tomokazu Harimoto, he is current Junior World champion ... Before that Sharath scored couple of good wins over WR #24 Yuto Muramatsu and WR #42Paul Drinkhall.

Tennis News

At $776K Qatar Total Open 2017, Doha

[SF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) l (4) Abigail Spears (USA)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 36 61 8-10

Another disappointing tournament for Sania-Barbora pairing as one more loss in the semi-final against Spears-Srebotnik in the match tie-break.

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At $2.66M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2017, UAE

[R1] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bye

They r 4th seed at Dubai and bye in the first round.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2017, Perth, Australia

Doubles Final
(1) Irina Maria BARA (ROU)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) l (2) Junri NAMIGATA (JPN)/ Riko SAWAYANAGI (JPN) 67(5) 64 9-11

Top-seed Prarthana and Irina lost in the final against 2nd seed Japanese pair ... After losing the first set Prarthana-Irina tried fightback winning the second ... But they lost the match tie-break in extra points.

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At $50K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[Q1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,319) bt Ruben Gonzales (PHI,922) 75 64

[Q2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,319) vs Yusuke Watanuki (JPN,778)

Prajnesh is back on the tour after six weeks break and started with a win at Kyoto qualifying.

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At $15K India F1 Futures, Chandigarh

[R1] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt Kunal Anand (IND) 61 62
[R2] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt Aryan Goveas (IND) 63 63
[QF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt Sanam Singh (IND) 61 63
[SF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt (7) Sidharth Rawat (IND) 61 61

Singles Final
(1) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND) 62 62

As expected Yuki wins another future title ... Not a single Indian player manged to challenge his game as he won all his matches comfortably ... It was his 12th Futures singles title for Yuki who have five singles and six doubles titles at the Challenger level.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2017 - Asia/ Oceania Group I - 2nd Round, Bangalore, India

The venue has been decided ... The Asia Oceania 2nd round between India and Uzbekistan would be played at Bangalore from 7-9 April 2017 ... So home debut for Mahesh as non-playing captain.

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At $776K Qatar Total Open 2017, Doha

[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Raquel Atawo (USA)/ Yifan Xu (CHN) 62 64

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Darija Jurak (CRO) 64 63

[SF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs (4) Abigail Spears (USA)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

Sania and Strycova r in the semis with back to back two wins in a day ... In the quarters they defeated Dabrowski and Jurak in straight sets ... Before that, in the first round, they started with comfortable win against American-Chinese pair ... In the semis they r facing 4th seed Spears and Srebotnik.

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At €1.8M ABM Amro World Tennis Tournament 2017, Rotterdam, Netherlands

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Tomas Berdych (CZE) l (3) Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP) 36 46

Rohan with Berdych lost in the quarters against 3rd seed pair.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2017, Perth, Australia

[R1] (1) Irina Maria BARA (ROU)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Masa JOVANOVIC (AUS)/ Alexandra WALTERS (AUS) 63 61
[QF] (1) Irina Maria BARA (ROU)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Naiktha BAINS (AUS)/ Abigail TERE-APISAH (PNG) 46 62 10-7
[SF] (1) Irina Maria BARA (ROU)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Jennifer ELIE (USA)/ Sherazad REIX (FRA) 64 64

[F] (1) Irina Maria BARA (ROU)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) vs (2) Junri NAMIGATA (JPN)/ Riko SAWAYANAGI (JPN)

Prarthana is playing $25K ITF tournaments in Australia ... She and her Romanian partnerIrina Maria Bara r top-ssed ... They r in the final and facing 2nd seed Japanese pair for the title.

Tennis News

At $720K Memphis Open 2017, USA

[R1] (4) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Brian Baker (USA)/ Nikola Mektic (CRO) w/o (Garcia-Lopez illness)
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) 36 46

Turn to be disappointing Memphis open for Indian players as nobody left in a draw after first round ... I was expecting much better performance from Divij and Purav as they lost in straight sets ... Lee was again unlucky as this week he gave walkover due to Garcia-Lopez illness ... And last week Lee withdrew due to leg injury.

Tennis News

At €1.8M ABM Amro World Tennis Tournament 2017, Rotterdam, Netherlands

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Tomas Berdych (CZE) bt (WC) Robin Haase (NED)/ Glenn Smits (NED) 62 62

Rohan with Berdych started with dominating win against local wild-card pair.

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At $720K Memphis Open 2017, USA

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Jordan Thompson (AUS) l Sam Querrey (USA)/ Donald Young (USA) 63 36 3-10

Jeevan-Jordan lost their match in the match tie-break against Americans ... After winning the first set their challenge fizzled out in next two.

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At $75K Tempe Challenger, Arizona, USA

[R1] Nikola Milojevic (SRB)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Denys Molchanov (UKR)/ Dennis Novikov (USA) 16 46

In the doubles also straight sets loss for RamK with his Serbian partner.

Snooker News

At £366K Welsh Open 2017, Cardiff, Wales

[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,96) l Jimmy Robertson (ENG,38) 3-4 (55-45, 85-8, 11-92(92), 114(114)-12, 24-101(101), 26-58, 16-113(107)

Aditya missed a huge opportunity of scoring an upset win as he was 3-1 frames up but Robertson made strong fightback and scored two 100+ breaks in last three frames for a win.

Tennis News

At $776K Qatar Total Open 2017, Doha

[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs Raquel Atawo (USA)/ Yifan Xu (CHN)

This week Sania is playing at Qatar open with Strycova.

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At $75K Tempe Challenger, Arizona, USA

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,264) l (1) Ernesto Escobedo (USA,120) 26 36

Doubles
[R1] Nikola Milojevic (SRB)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Denys Molchanov (UKR)/ Dennis Novikov (USA)

In end RamK was no match to Escobedo in this one-sided loss ... RamK really needs to work on his game; like constructing the point, backhand and volleying for moving ahead in his stagnant career.

In the doubles also RamK is facing top-seed pair with his Serbian partner.

Golf News

At $3M Maybank Championship 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

T7 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 69 68 69 68 -14 $82,500.00
T9 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 68 68 71 69 -12 $63,600.00
T12 Rashid Khan (IND) 72 68 70 69 -9 $43,575.00
T12 Shiv Kapur (IND) 70 67v72 70 -9 $43,575.00
T20 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 66 72 70 72 -8 $33,500.00
T41 Chirag Kumar (IND) 70 72 71 71 -4 $17,400.00
T59 Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 73 69 75 71 PAR $8,400.00

Anirban and Shubhankar scored 4 under and 3 under final round for finishing inside top-10 in this big co-sanctioned Maybank Championship ... Overall good performance as our 2 more players finished inside top-15, Rashid Khan and Shiv Kapur ... Gaganjeet also finished inside top-20 despite PAR final round.

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At €350K Oates Vic Open 2017, Australia

T51 Aditi Ashok (IND) 70 72 76 -1 €1,822.22
63 Vani KAppor (IND) 72 73 76 +2 €1,143.36

After the poor third round, Aditi and Vani missed cut for the final round.

Tennis News

At €540K Open Sud de France 2017, Montpellier, France

[SF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Purav (IND) l Alexander Zverev (GER)/ Mischa Zverev (GER) 26 67(1)

In-form Zverev brothers proved strong for Purav-Divij as our pair lost in straight sets.

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At €1.8M ABM Amro World Tennis Tournament 2017, Rotterdam, Netherlands

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Tomas Berdych (CZE) vs (WC) Robin Haase (NED)/ Glenn Smits (NED)

Rohan is playing with Tomas Berdych at Rotterdam and facing local pair in the first round.

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At $720K Memphis Open 2017, USA

[Q1] (ALT) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,UNR) l (1) Peter Polansky (CAN,125) 36 36

Doubles
[R1] (4) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Brian Baker (USA)/ Nikola Mektic (CRO)
[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Jordan Thompson (AUS) vs Sam Querrey (USA)/ Donald Young (USA)
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Scott Lipsky (USA)

Our three pairs r playing in Memphis open ... Lee is partnering Spanish Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and they r 4th seed ... Jeevan is playing with Australian Jordan Thompson.

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At $75K Tempe Challenger, Arizona, USA

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,264) vs (1) Ernesto Escobedo (USA,120)

This week RamK having a tough match against top-seed Escobedo in the first round.

Tennis News

AtFed Cup 2017 - Asia/ Oceania Group I - 1st Round, Astana, Kazakhstan

Pool B

India bt Philippines 2-1
[R1] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND) bt Khim IGLUPAS (PHI) 61 64
[R2] Ankita RAINA (IND) l Katharina LEHNERT (PHI) 36 46
[R3] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Karman Kaur THANDI (IND) bt Katharina LEHNERT (PHI)/ Khim IGLUPAS (PHI) 64 75

Indian girls overcame stern test against Filipino girls for avoiding relegation match with the victory ... Karman started with expected comfortable win over Khim Iglupas ... But Filipino-German tennis player Katharina Lehnert surprised Ankita with straight sets win ... In the important doubles match, our pair prevailed challenge of Lehnert and Iglupas for straight sets win.

Tennis News

AtFed Cup 2017 - Asia/ Oceania Group I - 1st Round, Astana, Kazakhstan

Pool B

India l China 0-3
[R1] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND) l Kai-Lin ZHANG (CHN) 46 46
[R2] Ankita RAINA (IND) l Lin ZHU (CHN) 36 63 46
[R3] Riya BHATIA (IND)/ Snehadevi S REDDY (IND) l Zhaoxuan YANG (CHN)/ Kai-Lin ZHANG (CHN) 26 36

Expected losses but an improved performance by our girls against Chinese girls ... Ankita stretched Lin Zhu to three sets ... Now our girls r playing an important final match against the Filipino girls.

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At €540K Open Sud de France 2017, Montpellier, France

[QF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Purav (IND) bt Malek Jaziri (TUN)/ Albano Olivetti (FRA) 64 62

[SF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Purav (IND) vs Alexander Zverev (GER)/ Mischa Zverev (GER)

Dominating win by Purav and Divij against Jaziri and Olivetti ... In the semis they r facing GHerman Zverev brothers.

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At $100K San Francisco Challenger, California, USA

[R2] (WC) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,264) l (5) Henri Laaksonen (SUI,124) 16 67(1)

Laaksonen proved better player on the court for RamK ... After losing the first set comfortably RamK gave decent fight in the second for taking it to the tie-break.

Tennis News

AtFed Cup 2017 - Asia/ Oceania Group I - 1st Round, Astana, Kazakhstan

Pool B

India l Japan 0-3
[R1] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND) l Naomi OSAKA (JPN) 26 26
[R2] Ankita RAINA (IND) l Misaki DOI (JPN) 06 36
[R3] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Karman Kaur THANDI (IND) l Shuko AOYAMA (JPN)/ Eri HOZUMI (JPN) 16 36

Expected losses of our players against top-50 type Japanese players ... Next they r having another tough group match against china.

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At €540K Open Sud de France 2017, Montpellier, France

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Purav (IND) bt Dustin Brown (GER)/ Karen Khachanov (RUS) w/o (Khachanov - right shoulder)

[QF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Purav (IND) vs Malek Jaziri (TUN)/ Albano Olivetti (FRA)

Purav-Divij r in the quarters without hitting the ball as they received walkover ... Other hand Leander and Sa withdrawn due to Lee's ankle injury.

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At $540K Ecuador Open 2017, Quito

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Sergio Galdos (PER) l (3) Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 67(5) 67(8)

Very close loss in two tie-breaks for Jeevan and Sergio against 3rd seed pair.

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At $100K San Francisco Challenger, California, USA

[R1] (WC) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,264) bt (WC) Marcos Giron (USA,443) 26 64 64

[R2] (WC) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,264) vs (5) Henri Laaksonen (SUI,124)

After long travel RamK scored an impressive win over in-form American Marcos Giron ... After losing the first set lopsidedly RamK dig deep for fighting back and won next two sets ... Next, he is facing top-125 Swiss player Henri Laaksonen.

Golf News

At $2.65M Omega Dubai Desert Classic 2017, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

T19 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 69 75 70 68 -6 €29,105
T60 Rayhan Thomas (AM) (IND) 68 75 74 74 +3

Anirban scored final 4 under round for finishing inside top-20 at Dubai Desert ... 17 yrs old amateur golfer Rayhan had 2 over round for finishing outside top-50 standing.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2017 - Asia/ Oceania Group I - 1st Round, Pune, India

India bt New Zealand 4-1

Day One
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,368) bt Finn Tearney (NZL,414) 64 64 63
[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,276) bt Jose Statham (NZL,417) 63 64 63

Day Two
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l Arem Sitak (NZL)/ Michael Venus (NZL) 63 36 67(6) 36

Day Three
[R4] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,276) bt Finn Tearney (NZL,414) 75 61 60
[R5] Yuki Bhambri (IND,368) bt Jose Statham (NZL,417) 75 36 64

After yesterday's doubles loss, today's RamK's match was important for us to clinch this tie ... Finn stretched RamK in the first set but after winning the first set RamK dominated the match ... RamK won 12 games from next 13 games for complating tie win for India ... In last match Yuki faced some resistent from Statham but he overcame for winning in three sets ... So next India is having home tie against Uzbekistan in April under new non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi.

Golf News

At AUD $150K the RACV Gold Coast Challenge 2017, Queensland, Australia

T6 Aditi Ashok (IND) 70 73 76 EVEN AUD $5725.00
T38 Vani Kapoor (IND) 73 79 77 +10 AUD $735.00

Aditi had a rough final day and carded three-over 76, which saw her slide to T6th place at the RACV Gold Coast Challenge in Australia ... After the first round she was leading with 3 under but was on third place after second round.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2017 - Asia/ Oceania Group I - 1st Round, Pune, India

India vs New Zealand 2-1

Day One
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,368) bt Finn Tearney (NZL,414) 64 64 63
[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,276) bt Jose Statham (NZL,417) 63 64 63

Day Two
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l Arem Sitak (NZL)/ Michael Venus (NZL) 63 36 67(6) 36

Before this tie, Lee and Italian legend Nicola Pietrangeli were locked at 42 wins and 12 defeats apiece in Davis Cup doubles and after today's match Lee failed to break Pietrangeli record and will remain on 42-13 (W-L) record.

New Zealand's pair started tentatively in this tie and other hand Lee-Vishnu were looking gelled pair ... Indian pair took a crucial break on Venus's serve in the 6th game, 4-2, and kept that lead for winning the first set ... From the second set, New Zealanders started to play a more attacking game ... Our pair missed a couple of break points on Venus's serve in 1st game ... New Zealand pair broke Lee's serve in the 4th game, 1-3, and they also kept that advantage for winning it ... In the third set, our pair missed few break points on Venus and Sitak's service games in 2nd and 4th games ... Both pairs hold their respective service games for taking it to tie-break ... In the tie-break, New Zealand pair took mini-break on Vishnu's serve on 9th point, 4-5, but they gifted mini-break back as Venus committed double fault on next point, 5-5 ... New Zealand pair took another mini-break on Lee's serve on 13th point, 6-7 and then they hold on Sitak's serve for winning the tie-break ... In the fourth set, New Zealanders broke Vishnu in the 2nd game and Indians missed break point on Sitak's serve in the 3rd game which gave Sitak-Venus 0-3 lead ... This lead they kept for winning the set and match so keeping New Zealand still in the tie ... So despite huge crowd support (for the first time I experienced full-house for tennis match in India) our pair failed to raise their game and lost.

In this match, Vishnu and Lee started well but from the second set, Vishnu started making few errors and Lee was looking a bit slow on the court ... Other hand Venus was struggling with his game but Sitak was the best player on the court and because of him, New Zealand managed to win this match ... After losing the first set, New Zealanders changed game plan and targeted Vishnu, in the end, which gave them desired result.

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At $125 Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

Doubles Final
Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) l (Q) David O'Hare (IRL)/ Joe Salisbury (GBR) 76(6) 36 9-11

Jeevan and Chris missed a huge opportunity of lifting the title here ... After losing the second set, Jeevan-Chris were dominating the match tie-break ... They had 4 championship points at 9-5 but they became tight and lost next 6 points for losing this match ... The third time they lost in the final as they were two-time runner-up in Japanese challengers in November 2016.

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At €540K Open Sud de France 2017, Montpellier, France

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Purav (IND) vs Dustin Brown (GER)/ Karen Khachanov (RUS)
[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Andre Sa (BRA) vs Alexander Zverev (GER)/ Mischa Zverev (GER)

The next week Purav-Divij r playing at Montpellier and facing Dustin Brown and his young Russian partner Karen Khachanov ... Lee and Sa r also playing there and facing German Zverev brothers.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2017 - Asia/ Oceania Group I - 1st Round, Pune, India

India vs New Zealand 2-0

Day One
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,368) bt Finn Tearney (NZL,414) 64 64 63
[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,276) bt Jose Statham (NZL,417) 63 64 63

Favorable start for Indians as they r 2-0 up after end of the first day ... Though Yuki was in control of the match, he was break down in first 2 sets ... His overall game was looking superb with his trademark forehands but his serving looks susceptible as he is still recovering from tennis elbow ... RamK also scored impressive win ... He was serving big and used backhand slice shots effectively but this shot wouldn't work with top-200 players ... He needs to work on his backhand for moving ahead.

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At $125 Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[SF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt Denys Molchanov (UKR)/ Dennis Novikov (USA) 26 64 10-7

[F] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) vs (Q) David O'Hare (IRL)/ Joe Salisbury (GBR)

Jeevan-Chris r in the final with comeback win over Molchanov-Novikov ... After losing the first set they made excellent comeback for winning the next and match tie-break ... In the final they r facing Irish-British qualifiers.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2017 - Asia/ Oceania Group I - 1st Round, Pune, India

Day One
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,368) vs Finn Tearney (NZL,414)
[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,276) vs Jose Statham (NZL,417)

Day Two
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Arem Sitak (NZL)/ Michael Venus (NZL)

Day Three
[R4] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,276) vs Finn Tearney (NZL,414)
[R5] Yuki Bhambri (IND,368) vs Jose Statham (NZL,417)

In the last minute Saki withdrawn from the tie with his injury and then AITA took bizzare decision of including Vishnu Vardhan on his place ... They should have included Prajnesh as he is in Pune as reserve player, otherwise what use in selecting players as reserves for the tie ... AITA contacted Rohan Bopannabut he declared his unavailability so they asked Vishnu, who immediately respond and reached Pune for this tie ... So suddenly this tie become interesting.

So for this tie, RamK is our top player and playing second match against experienced Jose Statham ... Yuki is playing in the first match against their top player Finn Tearney.

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At $125 Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt (WC) Mackenzie McDonald (USA)/ Max Schnur (USA) 61 64

[SF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) vs Denys Molchanov (UKR)/ Dennis Novikov (USA) (USA)

Comfortable win for Jeevan and Chrisagainst local wild-card pair ... In the semis they r facing Denys Molchanov and Dennis Novikov.

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At $50K+H Quimper Challenger 2017, France

[QF] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Purav (IND) l Ariel Behar (URU)/ Andrey Golubev (KAZ) 67(0) 64 6-10

Disappointing loss for top-seed Purav and Divij against Behar and Golubev in the match tie-break.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Quimper Challenger 2017, France

[R1] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Purav (IND) bt Jonathan Eysseric (FRA)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) 67(4) 63, 11-9

[QF] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Purav (IND) vs Ariel Behar (URU)/ Andrey Golubev (KAZ)

In end really tough fighting win for Purav-Divij against Eysseric-Stakhovsky ... After losing the first set Purav-Divij made excellent comeback but they were stretched in STB for winning on extra points ... Next they r facing Behar-Golubev.

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At $25K Kazakhstan F2 Futures, Aktobe

[R2] N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,561) l Andriej KAPAS (POL,480) 46 26

No upset by VSP so overall disappointing Kazakh futures for our players.